The Cape Dory Board

There is no question that a whisker pole will improve your downwind performance. It will also help to stabilize your sail plan when conditions get a bit rolly. You can certainly set one by yourself but you need to be careful and have some form of autopilot (I used to set one without an autopilot and...

Any idea what it would cost to get this to Lake Michigan? Hull out/breakdown/truck or over water ways? Unfortunately, I can't give you an exact number but I can give you a ballpark. We had a 36', 17,000lbs boat trucked from Menominee, MI to here last year which was about 1200 miles. I think that I ...

We have watched fireworks in many different harbors but have never been in Boston for the 4th because of not knowing where to watch them from. Does anyone know of a good anchorage for watching the Boston 4th of July fireworks from? Since they are set off over the Charles, it seems like the usual pla...

New price. $14k. We found out unexpectedly that there was not room in the yard for us this summer so we have launched the boat. Due to this change in events, we have dropped the price significantly for a quick sale. Please let me know if you have any questions or would like to see the boat.

A couple of thoughts on this. Chafe happens because the line moves across a surface. To eliminate chafe, you need to minimize movement or make the pressure between the fairlead and the line low. Minimizing movement means having as little line between the cleat and the fairlead as possible. You can a...

Jim has given you good advice. Ideally, you should do the swap on a nice calm day in a protected area provided that the mast will be up. If you carefully measure the length, diameter and clevis pin diameters, you can have someone make up a new one without providing the old. Regardless, you will need...

We have reduced the price to $19,000.

This is an interesting topic. When I worked aboard larger vessels, I wore a sheath knife that I built and a multitool which started as a Gerber but then switched to a Leatherman Wave when they came out. Actually building a knife takes some time and tools that not everyone will necessarily have such ...

I would recommend starting by seeing if the sail plan is balanced when close reaching or even close hauled. If it is balanced or has a bit of weather helm, then that is good. Unless it is really choppy, then the boat should be able to tack on its momentum if you slowly ease the helm over without sta...

Thanks! Apologies, I should have clarified. The boat will be in the mooring field in Salem MA on an oversized granite mooring. Salem is a mooring field that I know well, it is actually where we keep our new boat. It has the same general exposure issues as Falmouth, especially if you are on the west...

If I am reading your signature correctly, you are on a mooring in Falmouth? Given that Falmouth can get quite rough, I would go as long as you can without causing problems. By problems, I refer to being too different from other boats and too long resulting in keel wrap (thankfully Cape Dory's hull s...

First, you need to figure out what type of prop you want. A fixed prop will provide the best thrust and is the cheapest but has the most drag while sailing. Many people like feathering props which have significantly less drag while sailing but are much more expensive. For people really worried about...

Hi Joe, What is the rated output of your charger? A really small charger on a dead battery can take a really long time. Also, on a really dead battery they will sometimes take very little charge for quite a while then all of a sudden they will start taking a real charge again. I would leave the char...

I would recommend that you do your best to really get a good idea of your loads and the required solar generation. If you mostly weekend, then you might try to get away with a small panel that can spend most of the week bringing the batteries back up so it might be sized to cover 1/3 of your average...

It has been a few years since I stopped there but it used to be that you could anchor towards the south end of the harbor. There was basically a small hole in the moorings. Also, you can anchor at the north end of everything but it is a long dinghy ride and there is a fair amount of traffic noise as...